Life in Illinois

I don't recall if we had electricity, in Illinois, but for some reason I think we did. I do know we did not have indoor plumbing, primarily because of the incident with the corn cobs.

The seven younger siblings, I always thought there was just one set of twins, but now I have been informed that there were two sets, none of the babies survived for more than a few hours or days.One set of twins were boys, Brant and Grant, again this is something I did not know until now. My mother was a very religious person. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I was led to believe she was planning on becoming a nun at one time. I guess my dad had something to do with that not happening. We went to Mass every Sunday, and every Holy Day where it was required. As to toys, don't recall toys in Illinois, will speak of toys later on. More on how I was treated by my siblings later on, let's just say for now it was not pleasant.

Before we leave Illinois for the Pacific Northwest a little bit of what I know about my parents. My dad, Walter Dwight Howe, was born in Illinois somewhere around 1900 (just pick a date, any date will do). For most of my life I thought it was March of 1900, but after much research, my daughter Joanie determined there were several different birthdates.

The confusion starts because he was orphaned at a very young age. I can remember him mentioning at one time spending some time as a very young boy on the Olympia, WA, waterfront. I know he had relatives in southwestern Washington, because he and I went to visit two old women, don't recall what the relationship was. Joanie found that his mother was buried in Elma, WA. A Baptismal certificate was located indicating the March 1900 birthdate; I believe he lied to enable him to enter the Army during the First World War. He did serve honorably, and was awarded a Silver Star and was declared 100 percent disabled due to the loss of his left arm. Incidentally, unfortunately, he was left-handed.

He never graduated from any kind of school and could barely read or write. Whenever we asked about our ancestry, we were told we were Irish. Scotch, Bohemian and skunk, mostly skunk. I never got a straight answer from him on that subject. As I said Mom was at one point supposed to have been a nun. She was born in Mildmay, Ontario, Canada of German parents February of 1905. She was one of 12, not sure where she stood in the hierarchy, oldest, middle or youngest. How her and Dad met I never learned. Her father was a saloon keeper and as a consequence, according to Mom, they moved quite often. Her father was the only grandparent I ever met, more on that subject later.

Enough for tonight. More to follow.

In the Beginning...

In the beginning ... my isn’t that deep? I was born at the Cottage Hospital, in Galesburg Illinois Feb 28, 1935. I was told that I was named after the mailman -- maybe that is the reason I don’t resemble any of the rest of my family. And here’s where it starts getting screwed up. In 1954 I, along with several shipmates, were sent to what the Navy called QM(A) school from San Diego, CA, to Bainbridge MD, by train, and as the train passed through Galesburg, we stopped at the train station which just happened to be across the street from Cottage Hospital. Now wasn’t that an interesting tidbit?

At any rate I was the fifth of what turned out to be a family of five, three boys and two girls. My parents actually had 12 children but I guess I broke the mold, because all that came after me died a short time after birth. I actually have no knowledge of how long any of them lived. We actually lived in Birmingham, IL. I have really no recollection of my own from my life in Birmingham, so what follows is a couple of stories that I was told. I have no reason to disbelieve them.

The property we lived on also contained the one-room Schoolhouse where my brothers and sisters began their education. By the way if you are interested, my oldest sister, Marie, was seven years older than me, next came my brother Bill, who was I think six years older. Eileen came next and she was four years older and the final was Bob who was three years older. One of the stories my oldest sister told was of the time I was a baby and all of the kids were waiting in the car for our parents for some unknown reason, and while she was trying to either entertain me or kill me, not sure which, she was tossing me in the air and tossed too high and she claims she knocked me unconscious, which might explain the condition I find myself in now.

Another story, and this is one I have a faint memory of, is my oldest brother Bill conning me into dumping all of the corncobs into the outhouse pit and filling up the holes, requiring a new outhouse to be dug. This explains the picture of me at a young age where my Mother wrote on the back, “the meanest, rottenest kid that ever lived”.

One other thing of interest . . . Grandma Howe's birth certificate shows her name as Eveline Marie Beitz, her baptismal certificate shows her name and Evelyn Mae. I believe, correct me Dad, that she actually used Evelyn as the spelling.
Yes, Mom always used Evelyn, didn't know about Eveline until you told us.
Dad always called her Evie.

Also, sorry, to correct below . . . according to the census and border xings Wendel was a hotel keeper not a saloon keeper. I misspoke below.

No apology necessary, Mom always said he was a "Saloon Keeper". I'm not sure which was the more proper or better thought of title. I suppose in this day and age "Inn-Keeper would be more PC and higher class.